Wow, a Blast from My Past

When I was first discovering movies, really discovering them, which was when I was an undergraduate, this was the opening music for the CBS Late Show (and LATE, LATE SHOW) in NY, which had all the MGM movies and were responsible for many late nights. This theme song — you may as well fully appreciate it — was like the doorway to magic. It would be preceded by Crazy Eddie commercials, commercials for Wilson’s House of Suede, and who knows what else. And then this theme music and graphic would come on, and it meant you’d reach the doorway. Then the theme music would end, and the next thing you’d hear would be the hiss of a soundtrack, followed by the sight of the MGM lion, and you were suddenly back in time.

This is what’s weird about it. This is what was so different about watching movies on TV back then. Though before I say it, I want to also say I wouldn’t trade places with the past for anything — now we have eight foot screens, video projection, Blu-ray, movies you can buy for ten or twenty dollars, or rent off of netflix, or order on demand; it’s great. But the one thing that was different then was this crazy sense that you were watching the movie . . . with other people.

You could be by yourself at two in the morning, but somehow watching a movie on TV felt like a communal event. I can’t explain why — maybe the commercials had something to do with it, maybe not. But you were aware that the movie itself was in the air, going into your house and everybody else’s. These were ghosts, traveling invisibly, and showing up on your TV screen.

Anyway, that little clip makes me want to watch an old movie. Right now.